


Lonesome Winter Nights

by KatherineOfArrogant



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Child Soldiers, Friendship, Gen, Original Character(s), Past Warrior OCs, Pre-Canon, Short Story, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-20 18:00:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatherineOfArrogant/pseuds/KatherineOfArrogant
Summary: The Armored Titan and Cart titan are sent to help Marleyan forces capture the Slavanic mountain fort, but it only takes one winter storm to remind them even titans are Mother Nature's bitch. Separated in the chaos of battle and a flash blizzard, Reiner and Pieck are stranded in the wilderness deep enemy territory. All they can do is survive and hope the Marleyans find them before the Slavanics.
Relationships: Reiner Braun & Pieck Finger
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Part 1

_Titans have ruled over this world for over 2,000 years, killing millions of people and destroying civilizations with their immense power. Other cultures and races were driven to the brink of extension under the unfathomable power of the titans, wielded by the Eldian empire._

_It was only 100 years ago that humanity erected walls to protect themselves from the evil Eldians. When the great country of Marley rose up against the Eldian empire, they mercifully spared Eldians that renounced their loyalties. Instead of exterminating them, they were able to trap these devils inside thick walls under close surveillance to protect the rest of the world._

_It’s because of this great mercy, despite all the pain our people have caused humanity, that it is our duty to serve Marley. If we don’t repent for our sins we are no better than the titans that terrorized the world for thousands of years. Our punishment will be to live a waking nightmare as a titan should we disturb the natural order._

_However, some Eldians refused to submit to forces of good. They sequestered themselves on an Island behind three great walls of unnatural origin with the Demon King Fritz. They are the true source of evil in the world, and why good Eldians are feared by humanity. It is our duty as Eldians of Marley- righteous in our quest- to destroy the remnants of the Eldian empire and restore the world to a natural balance._

_...At least, that’s what my Mom always told me..._

* * *

Pieck fought to maintain consciousness in the white out conditions. Her titan form could barely move forward as the cold atrophied it’s muscles, but it was most certainly death if she left it’s warm cocoon. Not only for her, but the fellow warrior she tried to protect in her mouth, although for all her efforts he would probably lose his nose if he was normal. 

A few more steps forward and her left arm gave out under her, she knew in a few seconds she’d lose consciousness and Reiner might die. That she might die and lose herself in the titan. At this point she knew she could never reach the extraction point and that things were going to get worse before it got better. 

Pieck dropped her jaw and Reiner tumbled out into the snow, just in case she lost herself while unconscious. With her last strength, she curled herself around him for at least some protection. Peick wasn’t religious and didn’t care much about Ymir or God with a capital “G”, but she prayed to whatever higher power to just make it through the night. 

~~~

**1 hour ago**

Snow was already falling in a gentle flurry when Reiner fled from his Titan. The day was gloomy without sun and the enemy fortress was like a maze full of gunshots, explosions, and blood. He held his rifle close to himself and ran towards where he at least thought they were supposed to be withdrawing- just like his instructor had shown him. But something wasn’t right and he still felt fatigued and dazed from the toll of being in titan form in sub-zero temperatures and he couldn’t fucking tell where south was without the sun. 

_‘I have to hurry! If I don’t find any more Marleyan soldiers soon I might-’_

Time seemed to slow down as he looked to his left just in time to see the blue uniform of the Slavanic Army and the barrel of a rifle. Reiner fought every instinct that told him to freeze up, instead falling into a slide helped by the icy ground. Just in time too, Reiner tried not to focus on the feeling of a bullet whizzing just over his head. He recovered quickly and kept sprinting as he rounded a corner, in case the enemy tried to follow him. 

_‘Dammit all!’_

He finally found a small alcove he could rest in after however long of frantic sprinting. Annie always said he was fastest when acting the coward. He slammed his fist into the wall with a resounding _‘Thud’_ and tried desperately to blink back tears.

_‘The only reason I’m even alive right now is because that man hesitated._ ’ Reiner could practically see the cogs turning in his head, not willing to shoot a child until he recognized the titan marks under his eyes. _‘I’m worthless. How can I possibly call myself a Warrior when I rely on misplaced mercy just to survive. Porco was right...’_

Reiner focused on these thoughts instead of the more devious ones. The ones he knows are not his, but the ones the medication stops him from hearing. The previous Armored titan that would rather kill herself than serve Marley- nothing short of a disgrace to the Eldian race. She’s the one telling him it was stupid to try to invade Slavanic territory in winter. That it wasn’t worth becoming a Warrior when he could be at home with his mom next to a warm fire, but instead he’s killing fellow humans. Reiner didn’t allow these thoughts to take hold.

“Whiskey- Bravo-257, Whiskey-Bravo-257. This is Golf-Mike one, come in, over” Reiner’s eyes widened at the voice and he fumbled with the radio in his coat pocket. 

“Whiskey- Bravo-257, Whiskey-Bravo-257. This is Golf-Mike one, come in, over” It repeated and Reiner recognized the call sign as General Magath. 

He quickly pressed the side button and spoke, forgetting his ingrained radio manners in his haste, “ This is Whiskey- Bravo-257! I am deep in enemy territory and need extraction, over!”

“Whiskey- Bravo-257, Whiskey-Bravo-257. This is Golf-Mike one, come in, over”

With mounting horror, Reiner moved his thumb away from the button and the plastic cover fell to the ground, revealing torn wires. He didn’t bother to hide his tears this time.

“...F-fuck.”

~~~

**13 hours later**

_‘Where am I? I feel warm and my face is wet...Did I get stuck in my titan again…? General Magath will be furious, I hope this won’t hurt as much as last time...I hope mom isn’t too disappointed.._.’ Reiner didn’t try to open his eyes, didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be proven right and have to deal with the situation. 

There was a low grumble and something hit him the side, his eyes flew open as he fell over into fresh snow. Reiner frantically scrambled away from whatever had attacked him and tried to collect himself enough to shoot something. When he finally recognized Pieck’s titan he collapsed on his knees from sheer relief. 

The boy glanced around himself and saw he was in some type of snowy wilderness in a pine forest clearing. And also completely alone.

_‘I think I know what adults mean by “morning after regrets” now’_ He thought as he slowly stood in the shin deep snow. _‘Pieck..._ ’ His first instinct was to cut his friend out, but knew that would be ill conceived. She probably didn’t have adequate winter gear or anything else. He couldn’t tell if she would be able to create another titan in this weather either, and he knew for a fact he couldn’t. 

_‘It’s my fault you’re in this position…’_ He took a few steps forward and placed a hand on the titan’s side. It was still warm and slightly wet from melted snow- both good signs. _‘I’ll make sure we both get through this. I will protect you.’_

Letting his hand fall, Reiner thought about his next move. He figured the best thing would be to collect firewood and secure the perimeter while he was at it. He checked his rifle over, seeing nothing wrong he double checked the safety was on before flinging it over his shoulder and heading out. He didn’t worry much about getting lost considering how much snow he had to trudge through. 

_‘My main goal is just to stay alive until help comes’_ , he mused, _‘The best way to telegraph my location is a signal fire, to get the point across I’ll need to make three moderately sized fires. I’ll need greenery too to make smoke, but enough dry wood will be needed too. Luckily, Peick is pretty noticeable in that clearing and gives off enough heat to keep me alive. On the down side, I have no idea how close we are to the Slavanic base. Any signal fires we make for Marley can easily draw their attention too..._

_Food is a different matter, though. I have enough rations for maybe a day but after that storm we may be here a while. I’ll have to hunt, If I want to maintain my ability to regenerate or not freeze, that is. I’ve skinned animals before but never actually cooked it. Not to mention I can’t waste a lot of amo just on some rabbit. Sure, if things got really desperate, Pieck could probably regenerate anything I cut off but anything that evaporates when exposed to air probably doesn’t have a lot of nutritional value. It’s not like anyone has ever eaten a titan before and admitted it. But I’m not really in a position to morally grandstand about what I eat._ ’ Reiner laughed to himself.

_‘That would be ironic though, to eat a titan. I’ll have to tell Pieck about that when she wakes up, she’ll think that’s fun-!’_

He let out an embarrassing yelp as he stepped into a thigh-deep patch of snow and fell face first into the ground.

~~~

**13 hours ago**

Reiner slid down the wall and curled into himself. _‘Shit!’_ he thought miserably, _‘Shit! Even if I get out of this my superior officers have been breathing down my neck ever since my promotion. Will they use this as an excuse to take away my tenure? They’ve been looking for any excuse to get rid of me, I know it!’_

His breathing sped up and he shook when he could no longer control his sobbs- he didn’t even care to conceal them from the enemy while he clutched his gun like a security blanket. He hiccuped, ‘ _What about Mom? She’ll be so disappointed in me if she has her status revoked. Dad will never come back… I’m a useless, terrible son!_ ’ 

He stopped wallowing suddenly when another thought occurred to him, one that made his blood run cold. _‘What if this is just some big ideology test?’_ the more Reiner thought about it, the more it made sense, why would the military give him a faulty radio? Using titans in a winter fort? _‘I bet they’re working with the Slavanics. They’ll capture me…’_ His gun shook in his hands, but he didn’t notice. He couldn’t even feel the weapon anymore his hands were so numb from his frantic breathing. The sounds of an active battlefield were drowned out by his own thundering heartbeat.

_‘...Tortue me…’_ He could practically see the blue clad men coming at him with a set of blood-stained pliers.

_‘...Find any weak spot to exploit…’_ He immediately thought of his mother’s kind but perpetually worried smile.

_‘...And see if I’ll take the cowards way out. Just like the last Armored Titan…’_ A flash of one of those hated memories of the dark-skinned woman with piercing, judgmental blue eyes. 

The downward spiral was, mercifully, interrupted by the feeling of something tapping his foot. Reiner only had enough time to look down at the thin metal canister before a stream of white smoke erupted from it.

“Whiskey- Bravo-257, Whiskey-Bravo-257. This is Golf-Mike- 1, Whisky-Foxtrot -362 is coming to find you. Stand-by!” Reiner didn’t hear the message as the fled from his alcove, trying his best to not breath in the Tear gas, but by the feeling of his throat closing it was already too late. He didn’t bother to waste time on grabbing a broken radio either. 

\---

Across the battlefield, Pieck didn’t waste much time after the General told her that Reiner was still out in the field. A blizzard was moving in quickly judging by scouting reports, and Marley didn’t stand a chance in winter conditions. One could say, they didn’t stand a snowball's chance in hell. 

A stray rocket launcher had basically destroyed the double barreled turret mounted on her back as they were withdrawing, so she had them quickly remove the cumbersome pieces so she could move faster. A part of her cursed that Reiner didn’t just stay in his titan and withdraw that way like the General ordered. On the other hand, Pieck understood he had no real choice- the quickly dimming light made even her titan sluggish and the Armored Titan would be a giant, slow moving beacon of Marley’s retreat.

Pieck fought to maintain the high ground on roofs while she searched the battle field. Conditions were getting worse by the second and she had no clue where her friend was. She batted a surprised sniper off the roof and paused to survey the area, glancing back the direction she came, she made sure she remembered where the extraction was supposed to be. 

After vital minutes were spent trying to visually find Reiner while maintaining her calm, she resorted to plan B. Hanging off the side of a building, Pieck threw her head back and released the loudest scream she could. If she gave the Slavanic’s anything, it was that they were only caught off guard for a moment until all guns were on her. She didn’t move though, instead looking for the small pop of red and gold in a sea of blue and white- god she hoped Reiner was smart enough to keep his hood off. 

Just as the first rounds sunk into her, she finally saw the blond boy in Marley whites frantically waving for her. Not wasting another second, Pieck launched herself at him with the animalistic maw of her titan wide open. Reiner braced himself for impact, clutching his pack and gun close while curling into himself to protect the parts of his body that would take longest to heal. Pieck immediately noticed a tingling sensation on her tongue and realized he was exposed to some type of nerve agent, no wonder he took so long.

Unable to spend any more time pondering it, Pieck skidded to a stop and turned around to where the extraction point was. But the wind had already picked up.

~~~

**13 hours later**

“Stop looking at me like that.” Reiner said in an exceptionally petulant voice. He sat across from the comatose titan in their clearing, weaving together whatever young twigs he was able to collect into snowshoes. “You’re so judgmental, ya know.” The titan’s dark, glazed over eyes continued to stare at him.

“I get it, okay! It’s my fault you’re in this situation, if I hadn't failed to get to the extraction point, you wouldn’t have had to come save me. I’m sorry, but I can do this!”

Unsurprisingly, the titan was unmoved. 

Reiner groaned, “Fine, I guess I might be projecting a bit…” he strapped the first snowshoe on and got started on the next. He didn’t even think Peick was awake, and he was dreading having to wake her up- but it was better sooner than later. It was well known the longer someone was asleep in a titan the harder it was to wake them up. No one knows for sure, but it’s been hypothesized that titans shifters can lose their ability to turn back after enough time. 

While Pieck could spend months in the Cart titan, she never really slept in it. It was more like how he heard some animals sleep, with only half their brain shut off. After becoming the cart titan Pieck has been more tired and less lively- although Reiner supposed he’d changed as well. 

Once he was finished with the other shoe, he looked through his bag to take inventory. There was a small kit with fire-starters; a few rations; his canteen- which he set aside for later; survival shovel; hatchet; and of course a lot of amo. Reiner stopped when he came across his pills and realized with a start he hadn’t taken them. 

Just as he went to open them, his eye caught the medication information on the bottle in small print. Looking closer, he groaned when he read “paranoid delusions” as a side effect. He thought these stupid things were supposed to help him pass his ideology tests, how in the world could he do that when thinking his own country is against him? Looking back, he scoffed at his stupid delusions while panicking. Without a second though, he tossed the bottle behind him to be lost in the snow. 

Heaving a sigh, Reiner unscrewed the top of the canteen and packed as much snow as possible into it . Grabbing his hunting knife, he approached the titan cautiously. Feeling the warm skin of it’s thigh, he glanced at it’s face again before digging his knife in. No response. Steaming blood rushed from the wound, but when he ran his fingers through it he saw it wasn’t evaporating. And while the fresh wound was emitting some steam, it wasn’t as much as he would expect while regenerating. He stuffed the metal canteen into the fresh wound before leaving once again to collect wood with his hatchet.

As expected, there was no dry wood in the sparse forest- which wasn’t a huge issue for him but he figured a normal person would be panicking by now. At least he would have no issue finding greenery for smoke. With an armful of sticks and already falling apart snowshoes, Reiner headed back to camp.

The boy’s breath hitched when he emerged from the tree line and came face to face with a large buck. The deer, Reiner noted with amazement, was licking precious drops of water directly off Pieck’s titan skin. It’s large eyes scanned over him, but after a few tense moments it returned to drinking.

Reiner wondered if, like that man in the fortress and so many others, it underestimated him because he was a child. If so, then it too was very foolish and it would die because of that, just like so many others. 

Ever so carefully and slowly, Reiner put the wood down. Even more slowly he retrieved his rifle from his back. He wasn’t as good as Bertolt at shooting, like most things Reiner was simply average. However, he liked to at least think he could shoot a deer at point blank range. 

It looked back at him again, with judgmental doe eyes. Then, in a fluid movement only a trained soldier like Reiner could execute, he turned his safety off, aimed, and fired. But the deer was fast too, and, with a sound he could never get used to, the bullet sank into its shoulder. The stupid thing didn’t know when to lay down and accept death, so it tore off into the woods. Leaving a trail of blood and disturbed snow that was almost too easy to track down. 

When Reiner found it a hundred yards out, it was quivering on the ground and bleeding out. He had figured with the amount of blood pouring out, he must’ve hit an artery. Another stroke of insane luck for him. 

The boy gripped his hatchet tighter in his right hand. _‘I really can’t afford to waste any more amo, not when I don’t have to…’_

After quickly field dressing it, Reiner hauled the carcass back to camp with a neat, circular bullet hole in it’s head. 

Part of his Cadet training was to be able to survive in situations like this. They were taught basic things, like how to hunt, track, and skin and dress a deer. Part of kitchen duty was butchering the deer the Cadets shot, but didn’t skin themselves. Reiner had gotten very good at it and he’d happily accept helping with the deer then be on the grueling scullery duty. That was until one day, someone- probably Annie- had shot a spotted fawn. Reiner cried silently when the head chef had told him to skin it anyways. He only got halfway through before the man noticed and, after a suitable amount of berating, made him switch with Annie on dishwasher duty. Reiner always wondered if that was her plan all along, she certainly looked pleased in her own way.

That night and some nights after, Reiner had nightmares of being forced to skin his little cousin Gabi. 

\---

After burying his catch in an obvious mound of snow, he returned to his megure wood pile and picked up the longest stick, about as tall as he was. Reiner grimaced, time to wake up Pieck. 

Before doing anything drastic, he approached the titan’s head, keeping a keen eye on any sudden movements. It was only somewhat scarier than waking up a human Pieck, he thought dryly. Keeping a firm grip on the very edge of the stick, he poked her cheek. 

Nothing. He almost allowed a sigh of relief.

He tried again, this time on her lower jaw. As soon as he pressed it against her-

_SNAP!_

With a manly squeal, Reiner scrambled backwards, still holding the short end of the stick. A theme, it seems. He recovered quickly and stood, slinging his gun off his back before aiming it towards the nape of the titan. About 2 feet down and he’d hit her arm, nothing more. She’d be fine...

“I’m sorry Pieck...” Reiner had to force himself to keep his eyes open when he pulled the trigger. He knew it hit when a deafening roar reverberated through the clearing and the ground shook with it’s wild thrashing. 

“Piku!” He shouted and took a few steps forward, “Piku! It’s me! I’m sorry, but I had to wake you up!”

The titan’s dark eyes focused on him and Reiner knew she was back. Steam suddenly erupted from the titan’s neck with the familiar sound of tearing muscles and sinew.

“Reiner?” She asked, her throat was rough from disuse, “What happened? Where are we?”

Before answering, recognition flashed across Reiners face before he rushed to get the canteen out of the titans thigh and climbed up to hand it to Pieck. 

“Here.” It was still dripping with titan blood, but she didn’t seem to mind much as she took a large gulp. Wiping a hand over her mouth, she thanked him.

“Do you remember anything?” Reiner asked as he slid back to the ground. 

“I remember that we were given the withdrawal order when a storm came in. You were running late so I went to find you.” She gave him a tired smile, “It gets fuzzy after that, but I’m glad to see you okay.”

Reiner looked down in shame, “Sorry, if I hadn't gotten lost you wouldn’t have had to save me…” He quickly wiped his sleeve over his eyes to try to hide any tears of shame. It was embarrassing how pathetic he was, really, the Armored titan and he still got so hung up on these small failures. At least now these situations aren't as common.

“Geez, always so quick to blame yourself.” He looked up to Pieck’s kind smile, eyes wide with shock. “It was a bad situation all around, it was nobody's fault. I mean, who could have possibly predicted a snow storm in the mountains in winter?” 

That got a small smile out of Reiner, one he immediately felt guilty for. He was in no position to criticize Marley’s military decisions, they probably had information they couldn’t trust an Eldian with. “Still, I have no idea when Marley search parties can come for us. That storm was really bad and the snow is really deep.”

“How long have we been separated?”

“I don’t know for sure- it was midday when I woke up and it was twilight when we got separated. Maybe 12 hours? I haven’t been up long myself, maybe a few hours at most.”

Pieck looked thoughtful, “I don’t have any winter gear or rations…” 

Reiner nodded in agreement, “I was afraid of that, that’s why I didn’t cut you out of your titan. It would probably be best for you to stay in your titan, for the time being at least. It’s also the only thing that’ll keep me alive at night and I can melt as much water as I need with it.”

“Hmmm, I guess it's true men only care about women for their body.” Before Reiner could stutter out a response, Pieck laughed, “Ah, bad joke. Marcel has always been better at comedy.I do agree with you, though, I won’t be much help in this form.”

“Don’t worry about that!” Reiner said so quickly, Pieck was slightly taken aback, “I got us into this, I can protect you!”

“...I trust you,” She smiled before turning serious, “But we need a plan for contacting Marley.”

“Yeah, I wanted to wake you up before creating signal fires. But the sky is so cloudy, I don’t think it’ll help much.”

“What about your radio?”

“Broken, that’s why I couldn’t contact Magath. Do you have yours?” 

Pieck blinked, “you got really unlucky, didn’t you.” Reiner tried not to grimace at the wording, all he had left was luck. She reached deeper into her titan with more sounds of snapping sinew and withdrew the hand radio. Warriors were always given the highest quality and strongest radios because of the stress on electronics inside a titan. She bent over and handed it to him.

Reiner immediately extended the antena and pressed the button, “Break, break, break, this is Whiskey- Bravo-257. In need of help.” He paused and waited a few moments for a response. After repeating the message two more times, he sighed and turned the radio off again before pocketing it. As much as he wanted to keep it on at all times just in case, he knew it was more important to conserve the battery. “This sucks.” He complained with no real malice, but with something akin to disappointment.

Pieck just nodded, “I hate this too. If I never come back here, it’ll be too soon. Stupid cold...” 

A cool breeze blew through the clearing and Pieck shivered severely. Reiner glanced up at her and frowned, “Speaking of, you should get back into your titan before you catch cold. “

The brunette hesitated, she didn’t like the idea of leaving Reiner effectively alone. Pieck didn’t doubt his skill, but she still felt like she was abandoning him. She remembered the long weeks spent in the cart titan while on campaign and how isolating it felt. However, Reiner always tried to talk with her- although that may just be because he knew what it felt like being trapped in a titan. That didn’t change the fact that he stayed up to talk with her when she felt like she was about to die if she spent one more second in that meat prison. 

Pieck gave her signature tired smile before allowing the titan to consume her form again. “I’ll leave...the rest...to you…” Her titan slurred out.

Reiner smiled before turning away to get started with digging fire pits from packed snow. Two on the outskirts of camp and one next to Pieck where he’d been sleeping. All with worthless white smoke that can barely be seen in the gloomy weather. 

It got dark early that night, just like every night, and the already cold weather dropped even lower. Using his hunting knife, he cut a large chunk of flesh off the titan and wrapped it in his rain poncho. As he ate half a ration bar of pemmican and tried and failed to rinse the fat coating his mouth out with the rest of the water. After putting more snow in his canteen to thaw in Pieck’s titan, he settled in to at least try to get some sleep as he clutched the warm bundle to his chest.. 


	2. Part 2

**40 hours before**

General Magath stood before a crowd of roughly 60 young soldiers in the light of the setting sun. The two, even younger, warriors at attention by his side. The Marleyan forces had set up in a clearing just big enough for an improvised air strip, a few miles away from the Slavanic base they will be attacking. 

“The plan is simple.” He started, never one to mince words, “We will divide our forces for a sneak attack from the eastern and west sides. We will start our march north in the dead of night and lay in wait until morning. All weather reports are clear, it should be simple to sneak up on the enemy base. 

“Our signal to attack will be when Warrior Reiner Braun, the Armored Titan, will drop out of a plane overhead and transform. While he wreaks havoc on the enemy’s defenses, it will be your job to infiltrate the base and kill any Slavanic soldiers inside. The charge inside will be led by Warrior Pieck Finger, the cart titan, along with the Panzer brigade. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” The crowd chorused in unison. 

Magath nodded stiffly, “Good, now attend to your posts, we move out in 0100 hours. Dismissed.”

After Reiner was dismissed, he sighed ruefully. He would stay here with a few airmen before being taken to the base in the morning by plane. Although, honestly, he was a little excited to ride in a plane. Blimps were much more common, but the terrain and the Slavanic Anti-aircraft guns made a large-scale air invasion impossible. Since it was only him, he was going to be riding in a Ursa-11 reconnaissance plane to the base. It was a small, lightweight thing painted dark brown with an open cockpit and you had to spin the propellers manually to get it going. It was fascinating to the boy, but he still didn’t like the feeling of being left behind. 

“Reiner.” He turned and saw Pieck smiling at him, holding a hand out. He looked at her confused, they don’t usually talk much and when they did Reiner typically initiated it. He wondered when the last time they had a conversation in human form was, probably before all the drama with Porco- 2 years ago now. “We’re leaving soon, so I thought I’d wish you good luck right now.”

He smiled back, taking her hand in a firm handshake, “Thanks, you too. Give ‘em hell, ok?” Pieck huffed a small laugh.

“I will. I got your back out there, don’t forget that.” She looked oddly serious, a change from her usual laid back demeanor.

Reiner nodded once, in stiff, military fashion, “You too. Comrades have to stick together, right?”

“Right.” With one last squeeze, she let go and turned to leave. Reiner tuned as well, in the opposite direction.

~+~+~+~+~

**48 hours later**

When Reiner woke up it was still dark and freezing out, despite that he was covered in a cold sweat. He cursed and pinched the bridge of his nose, willing the after image of the nightmare away. Nightmares were hardly new, he could never sleep if it wasn’t in his room at home- even then he’d taken to barricading his door and window at night. But this time it was back to titan related nightmares, maybe he shouldn’t have thrown away his medication. 

On the other hand, Reiner could feel another anxiety attack coming just thinking about his traitorous thoughts at the Slavanic base. After shaking away the lingering image of being eaten by a titan version of himself, he relit the fire and stoked it. Then he prepared a large slab of venison to cook on the fire for breakfast.

Reiner glanced at Pieck’s face when he came back from collecting more wood. Her eyes were following his movements, but her head didn’t move. Once he was out of her view, and checked again to make doubly sure, he stripped down to his standard issue long underwear to allow his clothes to dry the cold sweat. It wasn’t very windy out at the moment, so it was better to dry out now. 

He spent the next few hours whittling stakes while sitting on top of a titan and half asleep. Reiner only looked up from his work when light filtered over the snow and warmed his face. He’d seen the sunrise a lot, especially during basic training when he had to report before it was light out. It may sound jaded, but he never really got the big whoop when he was trying to not throw up from running so much. But now, with the snow reflecting like a million diamonds and the sky a gradient of yellows, purples and blues, Reiner got it. 

He blinked when it got too bright and looked away with watery eyes. It was just the wind and light irritating his eyes- probably. The boy hopped off the titan and suited up again, then left to get more wood.

As Reiner passed her, he caught Pieck’s eye and noticed that her titan was smiling just a little bit wider than normal. He blushed and quickly pulled his hood up to cover his face, feeling like he was caught doing something wrong. “What are you smiling about?”

“It...pretty…” Pieck struggled out and her eyes moved to look behind him at the scene.

Reiner blinked in a mix of surprise and relief before glancing back at the sunrise, “Yeah, it is pretty…”

\---

Reiner wiped beads of sweat off his forehead, back down to just wearing his long underwear and an open jacket as he dug out pit-traps about base-camp. He’d been alternating between digging the 2 foot by 2 foot trench and sharpening stakes to put in them. Afterwards, they were covered up by thick pine branches concealed with snow. Sure, a simpler set-up may fool a deer or rabbit, but Reiner was worried about much more dangerous animals: the Slavanics.

It was sometime just after the sun was at its highest peak that Reiner took a break and leaned against Pieck to alleviate some back pain. He turned on the radio again to check for a signal. “Break, break, break, this is Whiskey-Bravo-257 and Whisky-Foxtrot -362. In need of help.”

He paused and just as he was about to press the button again, the static of an incoming transmission rang through the clearing.

“Nazovite sebya.”

Reiner’s stomach dropped through his feet at the unfamiliar language. Not knowing what else to do, he shut the radio off as soon as quickly as possible and resisted the urge to throw it. 

There was a low groaning and the sound of shuffling snow, Reiner looked behind him to see Pieck trying to pick herself up. 

“W-wait-!” He stammered and scrambled up. “Don’t waste your strength, we can’t make it far anyway.”

Steam erupted from the titans nape when Pieck showed herself again. “You know that the Slavanics will try to find any Marleyan soldier they think is out here.”

“I know that, but it’s not like we can cover our trail when we flee and you still can’t leave your titan. It’s impossible to tell where we go won’t be even farther away from allies.” Reiner looked down and pursed his lips in thought, “I’ll go out and patrol the area and try to intercept anybody who tries to come in here. If they get here, you can pretend to be a pure titan until their guard is lowered and then strike back. Just- stay in your titan. Most of the world doesn’t know we reside in the nape of the neck so you should be well protected...I think.”

Pieck glared at the ground in front of her before nodding, “Fine. Be careful.” She’s never felt so useless in her life, and all because of not having a stupid jacket and the stupid weather. Damnit, she thought the whole point of becoming a warrior is that you're never exposed like this. Nature is a cold, hard bitch and she’ll never let it take her off guard again.

Once his friend was safely in her titan again, Reiner checked his rifle and affixed the bayonet to it. He put the rest of the amo in the deep pockets of his winter trench coat. With the hood and cloth mask pulled up, he glanced at the red armband on his forearm before stuffing it in another pocket. 

Reiner cleaned up his footprints around the perimeter that may show where the pit-traps are and set out into the forest, listening out for any voices.

He wasn’t sure if he was happy or scared when he found 5 enemy soldiers after only maybe 10 minutes. Reiner crept closer and hid behind a tree while the men talked in a strange language into their radio’s. Peaking around the corner, he identified only one man with a radio.

The boy, because that's really all he was, took a steadying breath- he’d never tried to take on so many men alone, in human form at least. His heartbeat was erratic and his hands shook slightly, but he couldn’t let that stop him. He had to do this, not just for himself either. He had to protect his comrade, Pieck put her faith in him and he will not prove her wrong. Reiner recalled the words of the previous Armored Titan, plant your feet and think about your purpose in life, he focused on what that could be. 

It took a surprisingly long time to come up with the answer: protection. Yes, the purpose of his titan was to protect others. ‘ _ How could I have possibly forgotten...? _ ’ A strange voice hummed in his head.

Reiner’s muscles relaxed when he thought of this and he subconsciously changed his stance. When he gripped his rifle again, it was like electricity ran through his veins. Even his face was completely blank when he stepped out from behind the tree and shot the radio out of the man’s hand.

“chto za khernya!?” Reiner fired another round and finished the man off. Before they could aim at him, he darted to the side and fired again. Another man was hit in the chest near the heart, probably lethal eventually.

3 left with only 2 rounds. 

Reiner ran forward towards a man with a pistol. There was a tense moment of the gun pointing at him, but it passed quickly when the bayonet was shoved up and under the man’s rib cage. He caught the pistol as it fell from his hand.

Like a prickle at the edge of his senses, he heard a gun being cocked and glanced to see it pointed in his direction. Reiner didn’t even bother to try to retrieve the bayonet, instead using it to move the half-dead body to shield him. Five rounds sunk into the man’s back- these pistols only hold five bullets. Reiner pushed the man away with his rifle and aimed the handgun at the slavanic man, he didn’t waste a second before pulling the trigger and downing the man.

He then turned his attention to the last man, who seemed to be frozen and shaking with fear. Reiner blinked.

“D-demon...ty monstr…” The last man stuttered out, and those were words Reiner could get the meaning of. He also noticed he was younger than the other three. New recruit? 

Reiner froze, suddenly brought back to reality after hearing the words he’d grown up hearing. That man didn’t know anything, Reiner wasn’t a devil, that’s why he was doing this. He was a good Marleyan, and this man is a Slavanic animal. He took aim.

_ ‘I never understood when people say good people don’t kill. _ ’ A heart-achingly familiar voice said in his head. Another memory that wasn’t his? 

It took a shaky step back. Good, he didn’t like the idea of shooting an animal paralyzed with fear.  _ ‘When you think about it, morals like that are kinda useless. In the end, we’re all animals. Just take a dog for example…’ _

When it made no more moves, Reiner’s breath hitched. “...net...pozhaluysta...” With a thud, it’s knees gave out and the blue eyes focused on it’s enemy’s boots. 

‘ _ Do dogs question the morality of protecting their family? Do they think about the children, much like their master's, they’re orphaning when killing an intruder? No, that would be silly.’ _

“I can’t let you live…” Reiner tried, although he knew it couldn’t understand him. Maybe he was saying it more for himself, than anything “You know our location, and we’re stranded. You’ll just come back with more men later to capture us. I can’t let that happen, I have to protect Pieck…” He took a shaky breath, but didn’t cry. 

‘ _ Does that make a dog evil? _ ’

“Of course not…” Reiner strengthened his grip on the gun, finding his resolve once more. 

_ ‘Exactly, so why am I a bad person for killing others to protect my pack? Wouldn’t that make me an exceptionally nice person, since nice people do what others don’t want to? _ ’ 

_ BANG! _

The man fell over and stained the snow red, in fact, a lot of the snow in the area was red. “Yeah, I'm a nice person...” he muttered aloud as he hand dropped to his side. It didn't matter if it felt like a lie, everybody lied. What was important was he didn't let himself think it was a lie, that was what made him the best warrior.

Reiner took only a moment to collect himself before checking the men for any useful supplies. He secured the cloth mask over his nose to protect against the smell and searched the men’s pockets and packs with a numb dissonance. There were other radios, 3 in all that the men weren’t holding. That was good, since he already knew they operated on the same frequency as Marleyan transmissions he could keep closer tabs on any incoming calls. Unfortunately, he shot through the battery of the destroyed radio. 

He also found a lot of ammo for their handguns but nothing for his rifle, all in all they seemed to be lightly armed. Mostly they had ration bars, survival gear, metal mugs and fire starting supplies. A liter of some strong smelling spirit as well that Reiner kept as a fire starter. He loaded what he wanted to keep into one of the packs and left to go back to camp. Since they appeared to be just a small scouting group, Reiner knew there probably weren't any more soldiers in the area. However, that didn’t stop his instincts from yelling at him to check on his friend and camp before returning to bury the bodies and any evidence of their fight. Plus, he needed his shovel. 

When he got back he saw the place undisturbed and scanned the area for unfamiliar footprints.

“Tro-ble?” Pieck stuttered out.

Reiner looked down dully and saw some blood staining his white winter coat. “Yeah, there wasn't much of a fight, though.” He said, running the risk of sounding like he was bragging. Although, they knew each other well enough- just by virtue of being shifters- that wasn’t much of a brag. 

“Good…”

Reiner put the gear down and grabbed his shovel to go back and clean up the evidence. He hummed those tunes that Mr. Fynn would play in the trenches as he worked, from back when they were sorting out some territory disputes in the overseas colonies. When the sounds of explosions, buzz of malaria riddled mosquitoes and the smell of trench foot got too much. Mr. Fynn was more there for show and emergencies, spending most of his time bonding with the cadets. He spent who knows how long teaching Bertolt to drum out jazz music on an old tin bucket, saying he wouldn’t tolerate a successor that didn’t have rhythm. Or know good jokes for that matter, so he spent just as much time rattling off one-liners and anecdotes. As Mis. Lee used to say: a colossal personality for the colossal titan.

When he was finished the only blood in vicinity was on him, which he supposed was good. 

Reiner spent the rest of the day forging for something to eat with his ration bars. That night, he sipped on pine needle tea and soup made from chicory root, chickweed, and hickory nuts. Then, he chewed on soft pine bark until he fell asleep some hours later. 

~+~+~+~+~+~

**9 hours later**

Reiner slept fitfully that night, but instead of getting up he fell back asleep quickly. Only when he made a conscious effort to force himself awake did he notice that fat, wet snow was falling. He stood up quickly and had to steady himself from the dizziness. Everything was in a grey haze, one could hardly see three feet in front of them. What time was it?

Before he could start to panic, training and instinct kicked in. Reiner first created a large mound of packed in snow, big enough he could huddle inside. Just as quickly, he gathered the bulkier supplies and buried them in their own mound, marked with the tallest stick he could find.

Reiner stumbled towards the titan and focused on its face. Dark brown eyes were glazed over and unfocused, even when Reiner waved a hand in front of one. He cursed quietly, fine let Pieck sleep through this- she wouldn’t be much help anyway.

It took longer than he would have liked to hollow out the mound of snow and was painfully aware of any sweat he built up. When the shelter was finally completed, he climbed inside and affixed his coat over the entrance by light of a zippo lighter, decorated with an Eldian star. 

Reiner never really liked the dark, no child does, but his career didn’t make it any easier. And his little shelter was pitch black, made even worse by the sound of the wind picking up outside. Every instinct screamed at him  _ not _ to put out the lighter; however, the other type of instinct, born of training and experience, told him to put out any oxygen eating fire in an enclosed area. 

He allowed a brief few moments to catch his breath and try to get used to the cramped space that was getting warmer and smaller and harder to breath in and- wow this really reminds him of being trapped in his titan for hours. Magath had to use explosives to get him out; Reiner lost his first limps, but he had at least proven he could survive having his skull caved in. 

With one last deep, somewhat calming breath, he flipped the lighter closed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit this fic is basically sequel baiting/ trying my hand at writing these characters. I've been planning a fic surrounding a pre-cannon AU with the characters mentioned during their cadet days. A Catch-22 style dark, absurdest comedy. So, leave a review if that seems interesting to you.


	3. Part 3

_ “We’re going to be Warriors next year right? So doesn’t that mean we should be part of the charge?” Porco was trying to reason with General Magath. He and the rest of the cadets were in the officers hut on the front lines, just outside were the trenches they’ve spent the last two weeks in. Their time there was finally about to end and the Cadets wanted to help with the charge they planned, headed by the Armored, Female, and Jaw titan. More than anything, they really wanted the higher ups to know they were involved in the charge.  _

_ It was decided that Marcel would try to talk with them with the rest of the Cadets as backup. Well, everyone except for Annie, who was there by virtue of curiosity. However, as soon as the officers shot them down, Porco decided to speak up. Magath and the warriors did not seem even the slightest bit amused. Luckily for the children, they weren’t the only ones they could appeal to.  _

_ Reiner quickly nodded in agreement before they were rebuffed again, “We want to serve Marley with our lives! Even in the end, we want to give everything we have to make sure this is a success! Besides, with Marley’s titans heading the charge, it’s not like we’ll be in real danger.” He was pretty sure everyone knew that was just code for, ‘this is our last chance to look good on mission reports until the next war starts.’ It wasn’t like the brass hesitated to send them to active warzones before, although that had stopped when the Warriors tenure had only a year left. _

_ “Absolutely not.” Magath said in his, ‘not-another-word-unless-you-want-latrine-duty’ voice.  _

_ The other three Marlian generals turned towards him, “Actually, I think the kid’s got a point.” Reiner didn’t even try to hide his grin at the praise and ignored the dirty look Porco shot him, “Why not give them more hands on experience. It’s not like Warriors get a lot of time to acclimate to the job before being put to work.”  _

_ In the back of the room, Annabelle Lee, the Jaw titan, frowned at the wording. Put to work like cattle. _

_ Magath paused before relenting, “I suppose you have a point. The Warrior Cadets will join the final push.” _

_ Fae, the female titan, immediately stood up, “General, you can’t-” She was cut off by a strong hand grabbing her upper arm. _

_ “Give it up, Fae.” Jamie said, giving a subjugating stare, “Don’t question your superior officers.” There was a hint of warning in her tone as she moved her cool gaze to the Cadets, “Face it, we’ve been outmaneuvered by a couple of children. It is truly a shameful display.”  _

_ Despite her words, the cadets were immediately intimidated by the serious look. And maybe regretting their decision, but just a little. _

_ The two women shared a look and the blond smirked, green eyes sparkling mischievously. “Your right, sorry for my disrespect.” _

_ Slightly concerned at the way things ended, the cadets retreated back to their assigned base in the trenches, one of the spots deep enough for an adult man to easily stand up straight with the sandbags. They were lucky it was summer, the trenches were dry and offered slight reprieve from the sun and heat. Their main job was to keep to their sniper spots, three for the six of them to rotate out.  _

_ It didn’t take long after the meeting until the Warriors Annabelle, Fae, and Jamie came to visit with them.  _

_ “Kids.” Annabelle started with a small smile. Everyone eyed the cans of paint in their hands suspiciously. Reiner squinted at the label, magenta? _

_ Jamie looked Reiner directly in the eye and walked over to him while Fae approached Pieck and Annie; and Annabell to Porco and Marcel.  _

_ Reiner could only stare up at the woman dumbly, craning his neck back because he only reached up to her chest. He was so distracted by her gaze, he didn’t even notice when she opened the paint can or when she dipped her hand in.  _

_ With a wet ‘slap’, paint was splattered across his pith helmet, a few drops of pink even made it onto Jamie’s face. She didn’t even flinch. _

_ “What…?” Reiner tried to ask. _

_ “You didn’t seriously think we can be outsmarted that easily. This paint is so that even in titan form we can tell you apart and focus on protecting you.” _

_ The boy opened his mouth to protest, but before he could his head was harshly grabbed and forced to look forward. Jamie continued to haphazardly rub the offensive color on his helmet. Blushing in embarrassment, Reiner wondered why she couldn’t just ask for his helmet like he could see the other Warriors doing. _

_ “Don’t even think about taking this off.” Her eyes softened as she worked, “Believe it or not, nothing is gained through a senseless death. There’s a difference between taking a risk and stubbornly making things harder for yourself. If you want to serve our great country so bad, know you are of infinitely more use as a productive member of society than a cooling corpse.” _

_ When she was done, she leaned over to look the boy in the eye and placed both hands on his shoulders, “It’s the job of us adults to protect you children and your job is to be protected and live a long life. That’s how this works, like it or not.” She stood, leaving two magenta handprints on Reiner’s white uniform, and gestured Bertolt forward to receive the same treatment. _

_ “Some day, you will have your own little brats you’ll have to protect.” She spoke to the group, “And I’m sure they too will try to sprint right after their first few shaky steps.” _

_ Annabelle laughed, “You kids should also leave the 3D-chess to adults. We’ve been outmaneuvering the brass for a lot longer than you guys.” She handed Porco his helmet back and, noticing his pout, she pinched his cheek affectionately- leaving pink fingerprints behind on his face. “Don’t be silly about these things, now.” _

_ When Fae was finished, she pressed a flare gun into Annie’s hands and gave her an almost desperate look, “If things go south, please use this to signal us. I’ll come as soon as possible, okay?”  _

_ Annie looked away from the genuine display of concern, “Yeah, whatever.” Similar guns were given to the other cadets. _

_ Only 6 months later, Mis. Jamie Kaleka, the armored titan would attempt to commit suicide, forcing Reiner to take up Marley’s Shield much earlier than expected. Strangely, Marcel had to take the Jaws up early too, but no one was sure why Mis. Lee’s tenure ran out so soon after. _

* * *

**12 hours later**

When Reiner emerged from the shelter, there was at least an extra foot of snow on the ground. It was morning and the sky was surprisingly clear after the long storm, even the air smelled fresh. The first thing he did was check on Pieck, who was still free of any snow, although she did appear to sink into the ground with the fresh snow. He waved a hand in front of her eye- still asleep. 

He looked to his right and saw that sometime recently that old deer carcass had been dragged up by some predator. It looked fresh, maybe whatever dragged it out ran off when Reiner woke up. Quickly, he dug up his gear and found the bottle of vodka and match kit.

Still operating in a slight haze, only fueled by disgust at the mangled pile of meat, he poured the entire bottle over the carcass. He stared impassively as he struck a match and tossed it, igniting the body instantly. He only lingered for a few more moments until the black smoke and the smell of burning hair and charred meat drove him away. 

When he turned he noticed Pieck was focusing on him again, the smell must’ve woken her up. She never did like the smell of cooking meat, says it reminds her of burn victims- witch Marley always had at least a few of after a battle. Reiner typically didn’t mind the smell, but he had his own phobias. Like burning garlic or fresh cut grass- the smell of gas and an undignified death. The funny thing was that the colonials and natives didn’t have chemical weapons, it was always Marley that deployed them, but when the wind would change it would hurt them.

If Reiner was smarter, he could probably find a profound metaphor in that. But he wasn’t, nor did he care to be. Instead, he sat with his back against Pieck and turned his radio on. He had learned from last time, and instead of sending a message through he listened for any transmissions. 

As he waited, he told the time by how much of the deer had burned away. When all it’s flesh had shriveled and burned away, leaving a mangled, semi whole skeleton, he finally heard the static of an incoming transmission. It was clipped and hard to tell, but after a few moments he was sure they were speaking in Marleyan at least. 

Reiner dared to allow himself to hope as he pressed the button on the side of the radio; “Break, Break, Break! This is Whisky- Bravo-257, in need of help. Code- Blue! Over”

After a few breathtaking moments, the radio cracked, “Whisky------7, Sa--again---”

Reiner didn’t hear the over call, but after a few seconds he assumed one “Code-Blue, Code- Blue, Code-Blue, over!”

“---------Over” Reiner almost threw the damn thing.

“Say again!” for good measure he repeated that two more times as well.

“What’s-----Location----Location-------Over.” Reiner frantically looked around for any landmarks, but quickly realized there were none.

“Whisky-Bravo-257--------Golf-Mike- one. We are sending-------over!”

“Golf-Mike-one, Golf-Mike-one! Check the sky,” He repeated twice more before calling over. 

“Rodger----” 

“Over and out!” Reiner set the radio aside so it wouldn’t get damaged. He knew his titan would be worthless and probably malformed, but at least it was flashy.

Getting a running start, he got as far away from Pieck as possible before slashing the palm of his hand with the hunting knife. He recalled a conversation with Bertolt in that moment, about how he controlled the strength of the colossal's transformation. It was mostly unhelpful, vague terms about “pushing out”, but Reiner still did his damnedest to “push out” as much as possible against the transformation. 

He had no idea if that actually worked, all he remembered was emerging from his titan- which was luckily very easy since it had no armor- and stumbling to the ground before passing out. He woke up to the sound of barking dogs and General Magath shaking him slightly. Pieck stood slightly behind him, wearing a winter coat a few sizes too big for her, looking at him concerned. 

Reiner sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking around he saw that only one other person was with them and he was tending to a dog sled. He was only a little embarrassed to admit the thing he was most thrilled about was all the fluffy huskies around him. Most of the dogs were eating, but one was following Pieck around, and when she kneeled next to him, the black and white puff-ball tagged along. 

As Reiner was having the time of his life petting the dog and laughing with Pieck, Magath cleared his throat. The two looked up at him expectantly, still absentmindedly petting the pup.

“Anything pressing to report, Ca-Warrior Braun?” 

Reiner stumbled as he rushed to stand at attention, taking a second to recover from a dizzy spell before speaking, “Sir, yes sir! Prior to the last storm, Slavanic Soldiers almost discovered our location, but I was able to dispatch them before they found us and reported back. I snuck up on them, destroyed their radio first, and once they were disposed of I buried any evidence, sir.”

Magath got that kinda sad, wistful look adults got when Reiner told them about how good he was. His mom got that look a lot when he told her about training, until he didn’t anymore, then she was happy. But it made some sense for her to be sad, her son was growing up, after all. It baffled Reiner when commanding officers got that look, though. He remembered when Magath first got the look, when Reiner had made his first kill without hesitating and he happily reported on it. He also remembered the sting of disappointment when instead of the praise he wanted, he got  _ that _ look.

(Actually, there was a time before that Magath got that look, but Reiner would rather  **_die_ ** and be eaten by Porco than relive the memory of accidentally calling him dad.)

He had asked Annie about that look once, she said it was like that fairy tale Snow White. Adults just don’t like competition, especially from kids. According to her, adults were all secretly scared of them, but Reiner was somewhat skeptical of that. The competition issue made sense though, so he tried not to rub it in too much from then on. 

Magath nodded stiffly and looked back to the sled, “Yes, that’s good. We will head out soon and a train will be waiting to take us back to Marley. When we’re there, you two can rest up with some hot chocolate.” 

Reiner yawned, “Actually, can I get coffee instead?” He didn’t want to pass out on the train. In fact, right now falling asleep was the last thing he wanted.

“Yeah, sure.” He said dismissively before turning back to speak with the man operating the sled. 

True to his word, they left soon after that. It was exciting, neither of the young warriors had ridden on a dog sled before, and they sat on the front of the sled facing the musher. It was obvious it was for some type of cargo and not for three people plus the musher, so they were practically on top of each other. Pieck and Reiner especially, neither wanting to invade a superior officer's personal space more than necessary. Reiner passed the time staring into space somewhere to the right of the sled while Pieck tried to see how much snow she could catch from the wake. She also made the ride a little more exciting than anyone wanted, leaning into turns and over the sled at any opportunity. 

Reiner eventually just kept a hand on the collar of her jacket when yelling at her and cursing didn’t work. The yelling just seemed to make her laugh more, although Reiner would be lying if he said it wasn’t a pleasant distraction from his thoughts or the deep fatigue. 

When they made it to the train station, Magath immediately ushered them into a cushy train car with a padded bench across a lit fireplace. He wordlessly took Reiner’s bloodied and soiled overcoat and replaced it with a thick cotton blanket. Soon after the General left for their drinks and the mission report forms, Pieck went to the restroom and left Reiner effectively alone again. 

It wasn’t for long though, as she returned just a few moments before Magath did. 

“Fill these out wherever you please, you’ve been through a lot.” Reiner took the hot drink and set the forms and clipboards beside him. He also took slight offence to that last comment, just what did Magath expect when they went to Paradis? This was hardly an inconvenience compared to what’s to come. 

He sniffed his drink and frowned after Magath left, “You heard me ask him for coffee, right?”

“You don’t like coco? I’ll take it.” Pieck smiled.

Reiner immediately put a protective hand between her and his drink, “No, I just wanted something to keep me awake until we got home.”

She chuckled, “good luck, we have 5 days. My advice would find a way to sleep easier.” She opened her coat just enough for him to see a stolen wine bottle. He quickly suppressed a gasp and looked around the room for any listening devices but found nothing. The train car was sparsely furnished with no decorations, just the fireplace and a few tables. The bench they were on was nestled between two floor to ceiling cabinets that were probably murphy beds. 

“You can get in so much trouble for that!” He hissed, still whispering despite the supposed privacy.

Pieck just shrugged, “The only reason they keep this stuff away from us is proprietary. I doubt they actually care if we get drunk, just don’t leave the cabin and no one will know.” She unscrewed the top and took a swig, her face immediately scrunched up in distaste. “It’s good…” She said through coughs.

Reiner looked at the bottle skeptically, he had little interest in alcohol after how many of their missions as cadets were to poison enemy beer supplies. Pieck added a few glugs to her drink before offering it to her friend. 

“Just to take the edge off…” He reassured himself as he added a good amount to his own drink, “Is hot chocolate and red wine even a thing?” He asked before even trying it.

“I don’t know.” She admitted as she rehid the bottle, “It’s just in case Magath comes in to check up on us again soon. For...propriety’s sake.” 

Reiner hummed as he brought the cup to his lips, “It’s good.” He held his mug out to Pieck for a toast, “To propriety.”

Pieck grinned, “To propriety!” she chorased before settling in more- with her back to the cabinet next to her and her legs strewn over Reiner’s lap. She easily ignored his dirty look, kicking her boots off. 

“How are you?” She asked, now that they had a moment alone

“I’m fine. I think I have a few new phobias, but good aside from that.” Reiner gave a half smile

She laughed “Me too, mainly the cold.”

“And this didn’t help claustrophobia.” He sighed wistfully, “And I really thought I was getting over it too.” He finished, taking a long drink from his mug.

“Not being able to move too, does that have a name?” She drank.

“‘Don't think so. I think I’ll just be happy if I never have to come back to Slavanic territory.”

“I hear that. Although, I’m not excited about going back in my titan…”

“Well,” Reiner held up the mug in demonstration with a wide smile, “Then it’ll be my turn to sneak you booze.”

Pieck got a small, shy smile, “I’ll hold you to that.”

They made it through that mug and a few more of just wine when their dinner came. Pieck quickly hid the now empty bottle when the train worker came in with some type of warm, hearty vegetable soup. They both made a valiant effort to stay awake, with Reiner filling out the mission report forms for both of them. 

“Why don’t you just let me fill mine out later?” Pieck had asked.

Reiner scoffed, “And let you write it in crayon or something? I don’t think so.” He said, taking an absurd amount of effort to try to replicate Piecks girly but somehow still atrocious handwriting. She laughed at his weirdly serious face.

“Need to use the bathroom?” She giggled

He flushed and glared, “No it’s just…” He passed his form over to her, “This is something a sober person would write, right?”

Pieck glanced at it for all of one second before declaring, “Nope!” and tossing it away. Reiner groaned and flopped back on his bed.

“We can burn these and ask Magath for new papers tomorrow” 

As Pieck predicted, Reiner perked up at that, “You mean start this whole thing over again tomorrow?” She nodded. “That's...really smart.” 

“I thought you’d like that. Maybe you can even ask if anyone needs their taxes filed, that’s another thing everybody else hates to do.” And another largely useless skill Reiner had.

At that point, he got the sense she was making fun of him, “Maybe I will!” He huffed, settling back in his bed to try to go to sleep.

“You should! I think you’d really like that!” She shot back, also snuggling up under the covers of her bed.

“Yeah, I probably would!” He retorted, and then paused to actually think about what she was saying. Without warning, they both started laughing.

There was a short lull afterwards, before Pieck turned to look over at her friend, “Hey, Reiner...we’re friends, right?” At his confused frown, she continued, “I mean, I know we haven't interacted much since...learning about who would become warriors and Porco was, well, being Porco and we sorta...drifted apart.” 

“Of course we are.” He said easily, “And so is Porco. He’s annoying, be we’ve all been through so much together I don’t think we can’t be friends. Annie too, even though I still think she’s really mean.”

Pieck smiled, “Good, I’m glad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever notice that Porco has a ss haircut?


	4. Epilogue

Pieck limped through the Warrior headquarters, little more than a glorified apartment building/ officers hut, in search of her friend. No, he’s been gone for so long she wasn’t sure if he still considered her that. Either way, with everything going on, she felt vaguely obligated to seek him out. 

The whole of Marley was mourning the death of Bertolt Hoover, Marcel Galliard, and the supposed death of Annie Leonhart today. As much of an objective failure the Paradis mission was, Marley officials were doing a commendable job making it look just a little bit better. Reiner was a hero to everyone except the government, the people who actually mattered, and the tension around his fate was palpable. Pieck was still wearing the black funeral dress after she left halfway through the ceremony to find Reiner. 

She found the now man in his room, sitting in the dark on his bed. That was something she also had to get used to, a part of her still expected to see the short, apple-cheeked boy with that doofy haircut his mom gave him (even if, in reality, he only had that haircut for a month). A lone candle on the bed stand illuminated the piles of books, files, and notes that Reiner was pouring through. He was wearing his Sunday best suit though, so it was puzzling he wasn’t at the funeral. Pieck assumed he lost his nerve, and opted to bury his guilt in tedious paperwork. At least some things never changed. 

Reiner immediately looked up when Pieck poked her head through the door and brought a finger to his lips. Pieck nodded and left soon after, Reiner was naive enough to think she was gone for good. 

He should have predicted when she came back a few minutes later with a pin and notepad. At least she respected his wish of hiding from the listening devices in his room to cower from mourners and focus on work. 

Peick moved across the room with practiced ease, even avoiding that one creaky floorboard that almost everyone else stepped on. She eased herself on an unoccupied corder of the bed and started to scribble something down on the notepad.

_‘How are you?’_

Reiner only gave her a flat look, not willing to participate in something as childish as passing notes. 

_‘What are you doing here, you're missing the funeral.’_

He looked away before gesturing to the stack of papers around him, as if to say _‘I’m catching up on 5 years worth of news and technology I missed.’_

Pieck only nodded sublimely, before flipping the page and dealing the killing blow.

_‘Geez, always so quick to blame yourself.’_

Reiner’s eyes narrowed in furry and he opened his mouth to say something before thinking better of it. Instead, he simply tore the notebook from her hand, even though she was already handing it to him, and started frantically writing and crossing sentences out. After a while, he settled on:

_‘That’s because it is my fault. And I’m not avoiding anything, this whole ceremony is ridiculous. It’s not like there’s even an actual body to bury. I’m not going to go wallow out there like Porco and fetichize my self-pity when I can be doing something productive for Marley._ ’ He seemed to realize it when Pieck started to smile and he quickly took the notebook back to write something else. 

‘ _Why are you even here? we’re not friends._ ’ That wiped the smile off her face and he instantly felt bad. But instead of apologizing, his last shreds of pride made him simply hand the notebook back. 

Peick took a deep breath before puzzling through how to respond to that.

_‘But we are comrades, right? And comrades always have eachothers back. It’s okay not not be okay right now because no one is, something terrible has happened. I’ll never understand what happened back there, but if you ever want to talk I’ll always listen.’_ she paused before adding, _‘I won’t judge you, either.’_

Reiner took the notebook back and agonized over how to respond for a few moments before: _‘Maybe later.’_

Pieck smiled sadly at that, knowing that later would probably be years from now, but that didn’t matter as long as he didn’t feel so alone. When he went to hand her notebook back, she simply held her hand up and shook her head. At his confused look, she wrote, _‘keep it. Sometimes, I like to write down my thoughts and burn them afterwards. It helps.’_

Reiner nodded solemnly and Pieck left, still avoiding that one creaky floorboard. He released a silent sigh and flipped to a new empty page. He only wrote down three words before immediately setting the page on fire using a nearby candle.

**_‘Jamie was right.’_ **

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a oneshot but then it spiraled, ah well, at least I had fun writing it.


End file.
